Sunday, July 23
Spingold final: Fleisher v. Bremark
Marty Fleisher’s team (Chip Martel, Cedric Lorenzini, Thomas Bessis, Alfredo Versace and Antonio Sementa) defeated the Zimmermann’s squad (Pierre Zimmermann, Michal Nowosadzki, Sjoert Brink, Sebastiaan Drijver, Michal Klukowski and Piotr Gawrys) 175–77 in the Spingold Knockout Teams semifinal. They will meet Leif Bremark’s team squad (Fredrik Nystrom, Johan Upmark, Frederic Wrang, Simon Hult and Antonio Palma), who defeated Hans (Sartaj Hans, Andy Hung, Nabil Edgtton and Michael Whibley) 122–87.
Shang takes charge in Roth
Jun Shang of Beijing’s team in the Roth Open Swiss Teams won all of their matches in the second session of the semifinal to go from 19th place to first with a score of 189.57 VPs and a carryover of 30.10.
In second place is Geir Helgemo’s squad with a carryover of 22.29. In third is the team captained by Amir Levin with a carryover of 21.71.
Thirty-eight of the 74 teams qualified for today’s final.
Bales leads 10K Mixed Swiss
Toni Bales’ team topped the field of 30 teams in the NABC 0–10,000 Mixed Swiss. They finished with a score of 107.77 VPs and will have a carryover of 20.67 IMPs.
In second place is Yvette Neary’s squad with a carryover of 20.50. In third is the Steve Raine team with a carryover of 15.96.
Sixteen teams qualified for today’s two-session final.
Saturday, July 22
Spingold semis:
Zimmermann vs. Fleisher,
Hans vs. Bremark
Today’s semifinal action in the Spingold KO Teams features matches between Pierre Zimmermann and Marty Fleisher in the top bracket, and Sartaj Hans and Leif Bremark in the other.
In the quarterfinal round, Zimmermann defeated Laurence Lebovitz’s team 151–120; Fleisher narrowly beat Jeff Wolfson’s team 129–123.
In the other bracket, Hans knocked out Jerome Rombaut and company 171–153, while Bremark prevailed against Finn Kolesnik’s team 145–65.
Harris meets Sylvester in Mini-Spin final
The squads captained by Martin Harris and Marc Sylvester will do battle in today’s final of the 0–6000 Mini-Spingold KO Teams.
Playing with Harris of Chicago are Miriam Harris-Botzum of Orefield PA, Mark Kinzer of New Berlin WI and Bob Marheine of Waukesha WI.
Sylvester, of Edinboro PA, are David Yoon of Bayside NY, Ryan Connors of Alexandria VA and Randi Adelman of Teaneck NJ.
In the semifinal round, Harris defeated David Marker’s team 120–87, while Sylvester took care of Bonnie MacBride’s team, 151–102.
Amoils leads Roth Swiss quals
The squad captained by Leslie Amoils topped the qualifying round in the Roth Open Swiss Teams with a score of 118.75 victory points. Amoils is playing with Tom Hanlon, Brad Moss, Joe Grue, Ami Zamir and Oren Toledano.
In second with 112.93 VPs are Linda Epstein, Gabriele Zanasi, Danuta Kazmucha and Wojciech Gawel.
Third place is occupied by William Bailey’s squad (Daniel Korbel, Joshua Donn and Jan Jansma). They scored 110.84 VPs.
McNally, White lead Red Ribbons
Sean McNally of Chicago and Julia White of Minneapolis topped the qualifying round of the Bean Red Ribbon Pairs, limited to players with 2500 masterpoints. The leaders scored 57.65% in the first session and a strong 67.21% in the second to lead the field.
In second are Mary Peters and Thomas Peters of Dayton MD.
Third place belongs to Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Welland of the New York City area.
Friday, July 21
Spingold R16:three upsets
Three high seeds in the Spingold Knockout Teams fell in the Round of 16. No. 3 Rosenthal lost to No. 14 Bremark, No. 7 Spector came up short against original No. 23 seed Hans in a tight match and No. 6 Street was defeated by No. 11 Kolesnik.
Today’s quarterfinal matches will be on delayed Vugraph on LoveBridge. Go to vugraph.lovebridge.com and select the match you wish to watch. There are several viewing options, such as “match view,” where you can see both tables at once, or just zoom in on one table if you prefer. The quarterfinal pairings are on page 22.
Mini-Spin SF pairings:
Harris vs. Marker, Sylvester vs. Macbride
Four squads remain in the Mini-Spingold 0–6000 KO Teams. Martin Harris and company (Miriam Harris-Botzum, Mark Kinzer and Bob Marheine) face David Marker’s team (Eli Jolley, Rajath Shourie, Thomas Dressing, Mark Ginsburg and Kenneth Tatz). In the other bracket, Marc Sylvester’s squad (David Yoon, Ryan Connors and Randi Adelman) square off against Bonnie Macbride’s team (Bradley Komsthoeft, Venky Venkataramani and Robert Gervis).
Schwartz, Hu meet in Micro-Spin final
The teams led by Jeffrey Schwartz and Ping Hu meet in today’s final of the 0–2500 Mini-Spingold KO Teams. Playing with Schwartz are Susan Davison, Daniel Lev, Catherine Williams, Sharon Phillips and Michael Xu. Hu’s lineup includes Henry Shi, Zhiqiang Hu and Li Miao.
In the semifinal, Schwartz beat the team led by Roger Thomas (James Weider, Gregory Gauthier and John Stremel), while Hu defeated Avery Silverstein’s squad (Jack Boge, Nicole Hudak and Benjamin Levine).
Thursday, July 20
Nickell, Amoils KOed from Spingold
In yesterday’s Round of 32 in the Spingold Knockout Teams, the No. 2 seed Nickell was defeated by the original 34 seed Rombaut. Nickell fell behind early and although they caught up to within 2 IMPs after three quarters, they lost the match 115–135.
Amoils, the No. 9 seed, was leading against Levinson, the original No. 41 seed, by 14 after three quarters. Levinson outscored Amoils 51–35 to win the match by 2. The final score was 144–142.
0–6K Mini-Spingold in QF Round
In the 0–6000 Mini-Spingold Knockouts, eight teams remain. The No. 4 seed (captain Martin Harris of Chicago IL) faces the No. 12 seed (captain Farley Mawyer of Port Chester NY).
The No. 6 seed (captain Daniel Jablonski of Stoneham MA), takes on No. 17 (captain Bonnie Macbride of Kensington CA).
The No. 8 seed (captain Marc Sylvester of Edinboro PA) meets No. 15 (captain Charlie Belusa of Cottonwood Heights UT).
And the No. 9 seed (captain David Marker of New York NY) will do battle with the No. 21 seed (captain Alexander Stille of Bethesda MD).
Micro semis: Schwartz v. Thomas; Hu v. Silverstein
The 0–2500 Spingold Knockout Teams contest has been whittled down to four. The squad captained by Jeffrey Schwartz of Fairfax VA will face off against Roger Thomas of West Linn OR and company.
In the other bracket, Ping Hu of Naperville IL and his team will meet the team captained by Avery Silverstein of Ridgefield CT.
Cole, Zhang tie for lead in Mixed BAM
In the Freeman Mixed Board-a-Match Teams, two teams tied for the top spot after the qualifying sessions with a score of 34: COLE (Margie Cole, Alejandro Bianchedi, Ida Groenkvist and Cornelis Van Prooijen) and ZHANG (Susan Zhang, Eddie Wold, Janice Seamon-Molson and Gary Cohler).
In third, just a half-point behind with a score of 33.5, is BAUER (Tracey Bauer, Michael Shuster, Michael Berkowitz, Lisa Berkowitz, Sondra Schubiner and Joseph Machotka).
Of the 72 teams entered that entered, 40 teams qualified for today’s two-session final.
Gerli–Fruscoloni lead Wernher quals
Italian players Aldo Gerli and Leonardo Fruscoloni topped the qualifying round of the Wernher Open Pairs after scoring 59.34% score in the first session and a huge 73.14% in the second.
More than two boards behind are Richard Jeng of Los Angeles CA and Brent Xiao of Fremont CA. In third are David Grainger of the Toronto area and Adam Kaplan of New York City.
(Bridge trivia: Both Jeng and Kaplan are former Kings of Bridge.)
Wednesday, July 19
Few upsets in Spingold Round of 64
Aside from Bob Hamman’s team, the No. 17 seed, being defeated by Stefano Tommasini’s No. 48 squad, most of the top seeds prevailed in Tuesday’s Spingold Knockout Teams, Round of 64.
See the Round of 32 bracket further on in this issue.
Mini, Micro Spingold updates
The field in the 0–6000 Mini-Spingold KO Teams has been reduced to 12 teams. Today’s action features four three-way matches, with two squads advancing out of each. This will create eight teams for Thursday’s quarterfinal round.
Thirteen teams entered the 0–2500 Mini-Spingold KO Teams, and Tuesday’s opening round pared the field to eight squads.
Tuesday, July 18
Spingold Round of 64 begins today
The Spingold Knockout Teams saw 80 teams enter. The top 18 teams had byes, the remaining 62 teams played one head-to-head match and 15 four-way matches to pare the field down for today’s Round of 64. Notable higher-seed upsets included the No. 29 seed Bianchi, the No. 42 seed Botwin and the No. 47 seed Baseggio. See page xxx for today’s pairings.
Other Larry Cohen team leads Truscott
Eighty teams entered the Truscott/USPC Senior Swiss, restricted to players born before Jan. 1, 1960. In first place, with a carryover of 21.78 IMPs, is the team captained by Larry Cohen of Elmhurst IL, playing with Allan Graves of St. Johnsbury VT, Billy Cohen of Sherman Oaks CA and Tod Moses of St. Louis MO.
Close behind in second place is Jack Lipson’s squad with a carryover of 21.45. In third place is the team captained by Anthony Barre of Sunnyvale CA with a carryover of 20.97.
Exactly half the field qualified for today’s two-session final.
Sjodal, Bhargava lead Women’s pairs
Sofie Sjodal of Oslo, Norway and Arti Bhargava of Mill Valley CA led the qualifying day of the Wagar Women’s Pairs wire-to-wire. They scored 64.98% in the first qualifying session and 60.38% in the second to enjoy a carryover of 100 (25 top) in today’s two-session final.
In second are Sondra Schubiner of Boca Raton FL and Linda Wynston of Toronto ON with a carryover of 94.50.
In third are Kathryn Bailey of Dripping Spring TX and Lilly Justman of Austin TX with a carryover of 77.51.
Eighty-eight pairs entered the event; 52 qualified for the final.
Sunday, July 16
GNT crowns decided today
The finals of all four flights of the Grand National Teams will be played today, determining the winners of the year-long grassroots contests.
In the Championship Flight, District 9 (Jeffrey Wolfson–Jack Zhao–Jerry Stamatov–David Berkowitz, Boca Raton FL; Kevin Bathurst, Palm Beach Gardens FL; Jeff Meckstroth, Clearwater Beach FL) meets District 25 (John Stiefel, Wethersfield CT; Franklin Merblum, Bloomfield CT; Mark Aquino, Jamaica Plain MA; Geoffrey Brod, Newington CT; Douglas Doub, Oak Ridge TN; Allan Graves, St. Johnsbury VT).
In Flight A, District 25 (Maxim Siline–Carrie Liu, Hudson MA; Melody Bi–Anton Tsypkin, Sherborn MA) faces District 19 (Jeffrey Ford, Redmond WA; Kim Eng–Eric Sieg, Issaquah WA; Kevin Bolan, Snohomish WA).
The Flight B final features District 7 (Wufeng Luo–Bing Tong, Suwanee GA; Jia Mi–Xiaoyuan Niu, Alpharetta GA; Yi Xiong, Lawrenceville GA) versus District 3 (Lawrence Gordon, West Orange NJ; Steven Siegel, Mendham NJ; Sean Casey, Atlanttic Highlands NJ; Jason Tokuda, Livingston NJ).
The Flight C final is an all-District 24 affair: Kenneth Mandel’s team (Andrew Jeanguenat, New York NY; Jack Latta–Maya Jonas-Silver, Brooklyn NY) will face Jack Boge of NYC (Avery Silverstein, Ridgefield CT; Yanlai Yang, Berkeley CA; Jingyang Ng, Flushing NY; Jessica U, Queens NY).
Madala, Birman dominate LM Pairs
Agustin Madala of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Alon Birman of Tel Aviv, Israel posted two more strong sessions – 65.66% and 67.26% – in the semifinal of the von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs. Their carryover is 138.36 (38 top).
In second place are John Kranyak of Greenville SC and John Hurd of New York NY who had two 65% sessions to move them up from barely qualifying. Their carryover is 97.83.
In third are Vincent Demuy of Palm Beach Gardens FL and Marusa Gold of Leeds, United Kingdom with a carryover of 76.44.
Seventy-eight pairs qualified for today’s two-session final.
Michigan pair stay on top in Bruce LM Pairs
Xingyu Zhang of Ypsilanti MI and Ching-Po Wang of Troy MI continued to top the field in the two semifinal sessions of the Bruce Life Master Pairs, an event for Life Masters with less than 6000 masterpoints. They scored 57.23% and 59.31% and will have a carryover of 29.49 (13 top).
In second place are Richard Franklin of New Canaan CT and David Venetianer of Chadds Ford PA with a carryover of 27.95.
In third are Frank Xie of Sunnyvale CA and Mukund Thapa of Palo Alto CA with a carryover of 23.35.
Twenty-eight pairs qualified for today’s two-session final.
Shi, Hu have company in Young
Henry Shi and Ping Hu of Naperville IL are nearly tied with David Dodgson of Lansdale PA and David Dresher of North Wales PA in the Young 0–2500 Pairs, an event limited to those with less than 2500 masterpoints. A mere fraction of a matchpoint separate the two, their carryovers are 38.42 and 38.16, respectively.
In third place are Manish Dixit and Sriram Datla, also of Naperville IL, with a carryover of 20.65 (13 top).
Twenty-eight pairs qualified for today’s two-session final.
Californians cap 0–10K
Ronald Powell of San Jose CA and Bob Sanner of Palo Alto CA scored 61.99% and 67.35% in the first two qualifying sessions of the NABC 0–10,000 Pairs, an event limited to those with less than 10,000 masterpoints. Their carryover is 77.26 (25 top).
Patricia Herrera of Mexico and Isaac Stone of Austin TX were leading the event after the first session with a score of 67.10%. Their second session score was 53.49%, their carryover is 52.81.
In third are Allison Hunt of Greenville SC and H. Hunt of Kiawah Island SC who started out below average but scored an impressive 72.04% in the second session. Their carryover is 50.52.
Fifty-two pairs, a little less than half the field, qualified for today’s two-session final.
Saturday, July 15
GNT semis set
Today’s semifinal matches in the Grand National Teams Championship Flight feature the D14 (upper Midwest) team captained by Terry Beckman of Brooklyn Park MN versus the D25 (New England) team captained by John Stiefel of Wethersfield CT. In the other bracket, D16 (Texas) is represented by Sam Dinkin of Austin TX and company facing off against perennial favorites D9 (Florida) captained by Jeffrey Wolfson of Boca Raton.
In Flight A, Weizhong Bao’s D6 team (Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland) will face the D19 (Washington, western Canada and Alaska) squad led by Jeffrey Ford of Redmond WA.
In the other bracket, D25’s Maxim Siline of Hudson MA meets the D14 (North and South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska) team captained by Eric Hendrickson of Minneapolis MN.
In Flight B, the D8 (parts of Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky) team led by Peter Ashbrook of Urbana IL will meet the D3 (parts of New York and New Jersey) team led by Lawrence Gordon of West Orange NJ.
In the other bracket, D7’s (Southeast U.S.) Wufeng Luo of Alpharetta GA faces D11’s (Kentucky, Western Ohio, Central Indiana and West Virginia) team captained by Terry Maguire of Louisville KY.
Meanwhile, in Flight C, there could be an all-D24 (New York City and Long Island) final. In one bracket, Kenneth Mandel of New York NY meets D8’s Ryan Fu of Urbana IL; in the other, Jack Boge of New York NY meets neighboring D4 (Central New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Southern New Jersey) and the team captained by Jack Willgruber of Devon PA.
Madala – Birman lead LM Pairs
Agustin Madala of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Alon Birman of Tel Aviv, Israel are leading the field in the von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs. Scoring 64.46% in the first qualifying session and 61.71% in the second, the pair will have a carryover of 917.48 (based on 78 tables) going into tomorrow’s semifinal sessions. In second place are Radu Nistor of Aventura FL and Tim Archdeacon of Oyster Bay NY with a carryover of 905.02. In third are Mike Cappelletti and Allison Cappelletti of Delray Beach FL with a carryover of 889.71.
A little more than half the field, 156 pairs, qualified for the second day of this three-day pair event.
Michigan duo leads Bruce LM Pairs
Xingyu Zhang of Ypsilanti MI and Ching-Po Wang of Troy MI topped the opening round of the Bruce Life Master Pairs, limited to players with less than 6000 masterpoints. Zhang and Wang scored 62.75% in the morning session and 57.33% in the afternoon to lead the qualifiers after the first day of the three-day contest. Their carryover will be 334.83 matchpoints for today’s semifinal round.
In second with a carryover of 318.36 is the New Jersey-based duo of Joseph Pospis and Lynn Mackall, and in third with 316.74 are Frank Xie and Mukund Thapa of California.
Fifty-two pairs qualified for today’s round.
Shi, Hu lead Young
Henry Shi and Ping Hu of Naperville IL lead the Young 0–2500 Pairs after Friday’s qualifying sessions.
The pair, who won both of the 0–2500 events at last year’s Spring NABC in Reno, scored 66.12% and 57.55% to earn a carryover of 266.77, three and a half matchpoints ahead of second place and 62 ahead of the last-place qualifier.
Michael Cohen of Seattle WA and Joel Singer of Santa Clara CA are in second with 263.21. Xiaodong Zhao and Runan Du of Alberta, Canada, are third.
Fifty-two pairs qualified for today’s semifinal sessions where a 25 is top.
Friday, July 14
GNTs play quarterfinal matches today
The fields in all four flights of the Grand National Teams have been reduced to eight squads each for the quarterfinal round. Bracket sheets may be viewed on ACBL Live.
MOREHEAD GRAND NATIONAL TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
16 Tables
D21: Kevin Rosenberg, Sunnyvale CA; Amber Lin, Millbrae CA; Kit Woolsey, Kensington CA; Bo Han Zhu, Los Altos Hills CA; Chip Martel, Davis CA; Anant Rathi, Oakland CA
D14: Terry Beckman, Brooklyn Park MN; John Koch, Saint Cloud MN; Tom Grue, Apple Valley MN; Bob Balderson Jr. – Cynthia Balderson, Eden Prairie MN
D9: Jeffrey Wolfson – Jack Zhao – Jerry Stamatov – David Berkowitz, Boca Raton FL; Kevin Bathurst, Palm Beach Gardens FL; Jeff Meckstroth, Clearwater Beach FL
D24: Michael Lipkin, Brooklyn NY; David Gurvich – Erez Hendelman – Mustafa Cem Tokay, New York NY
D20: Eric Stoltz – John Lusky, Portland OR; Roger McNay, Beaverton OR; Jeff Roman, Bend OR
D16: Sam Dinkin – Finn Kolesnik, Austin TX; Bart Bramley, Dallas TX; Eric Greco, Frisco TX; Greg Hinze, San Antonio TX
D25: John Stiefel, Wethersfield CT; Franklin Merblum, Bloomfield CT; Mark Aquino, Jamaica Plain MA; Geoffrey Brod, Newington CT; Douglas Doub, Oak Ridge TN; Allan Graves, St. Johnsbury VT
D4: Jay Apfelbaum, Philadelphia PA; Louis Glasthal, Berwyn PA; Zachary Madden, Chadds Ford PA; Richard Popper, Wilmington DE; Meyer Kotkin, Cherry Hill NJ; Daniel Boye, East Syracuse NY
